The first step when making your own sesame powder is toasting the seeds. This important step brings out the natural oils and flavors. It also changes the cell structure of the seed to make grinding easier later on.

Place dry sesame seeds in a skillet over medium heat. Shake the pan frequently to prevent burning and help the seeds toast evenly.

Cook until the seeds turn a shade darker and smell fragrant and nutty. The seeds may pop a bit when properly toasted.

Watch carefully as sesame seeds can burn quickly.

Immediately remove from heat when done to prevent over-toasting.

To help gauge doneness, especially with black sesame seeds, add a few white sesame seeds to the mix. When the white seeds puff up and turn light golden, your black seeds are likely perfectly toasted too.

Allow the toasted sesame seeds to cool completely before grinding. Grinding when hot may lead to clumping.

You can use either electric appliances like a coffee grinder or food processor or manual tools like a mortar and pestle to grind toasted sesame seeds into powder.

Work in small batches for even consistency and to prevent overprocessing into paste

Pulse/grind the seeds in short 5-10 seconds bursts

Let the appliance rest briefly between pulses to allow cooling

Avoid overgrinding once the desired powdery texture is reached